In 1975 Andy Messersmith was the first free agent in baseball history. He signed a contract with the Braves, who were owned at the time by Ted Turner, who also owned WTBS TV, which was one of the first TV stations to be widely carried on cable. So at the beginning of the 1976 season Messersmith was issued uniform number 17, which was further adorned by his new nickname "Channel". An interesting coincidence is that WTBS happened to be channel 17. (Imagine that!) Well, that only lasted a very short time because MLB reminded Mr. Turner that advertising on MLB uniforms was prohibited.